Electric Cars

gazdkw82 · Aug 15, 2016

so me and the misses are looking at the option of replacing her old Volvo with an electric car. The reason behind this is because she starts university in September (17 miles away) and will be commuting and parking at my parents house who live round the corner.

The basis behind looking at an electric car is, we have calculated she will be spending around £120 a month on diesel and I personally spend about £50 a month on diesel ferring family around at weekends.

The Nissan leaf for example is £170 a month which is the same cost as the 2 cars together. we can use the electric car as a weekend car too!

What is everyones opinion? has anyone got one or know anything about them that can then offer some advice??

telectrix · Aug 15, 2016

have a look at hybrids like the toyota prius. for all-electric the tesla is the dogs.

https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/?redirect=no

but in an average diesel car, she should get by on 170 miles/week for £20/week, or £90/month on fuel.

gazdkw82 · Aug 15, 2016

tesla start from £439 a month!!

ruston · Aug 15, 2016

Thing is with some batteries , you never own them . They come with a monthly rate .
this was true of Nissan.
I am not sure of the situation now though.
You also have to consider the cost of home charging too.

I just had a quick look for you. The hire prices are at the bottom of the page.

https://www.nissan.co.uk/vehicles/new-vehicles/leaf/prices-specifications.html

PS. By the look of the page it looks like they can be bought outright now.
PPS. If you compare the own / hire prices there is a considerable difference.

Kamikaze · Aug 20, 2016

Biggest problem will be range anxiety. I once saw a Ford GT replica at Long Marston Airfield. It did the ¼ mile in 9.5 seconds but then needed a 3 hour recharge…lol. Just don’t get a REVAi G-Wiz. They are for people tired of living. The other thing you will find, is that without looking people will step out onto the road, because they didn’t hear the car coming. If that doesn’t slow down your driving then nothing will!

snowhead · Aug 20, 2016

The Actual Distance on a charge on the Leaf is nothing like the advertised one.
It'll need to be on charge after each journey.

A friend had one on trial it went back after a weekend.

TRY BEFORE YOU COMMIT; https://testdrive.nissan.co.uk/booking/leaf

ruston · Aug 20, 2016

Lol, it is the same with formula electric, similar to F1. They change the car at the pit sop ,not the tyres.

ruston · Aug 20, 2016

snowhead said:
The Actual Distance on a charge on the Leaf is nothing like the advertised one.
It'll need to be on charge after each journey.

A friend had one on trial it went back after a weekend.

TRY BEFORE YOU COMMIT; https://testdrive.nissan.co.uk/booking/leaf

We had one of the dealers come to collect our car for a recall,he arrived in one of those. He traveled around 80miles a day to work in it,and used it as a demo.
He charged at work,then at home at night.
He said the mileage was supposed to 120miles but in reality it was closer to 80.
This has to considered too, that heating ,lighting,and wipers will further reduce this.

Kamikaze · Aug 20, 2016

ruston said:
Lol, it is the same with formula electric, similar to F1. They change the car at the pit sop ,not the tyres.

I have never heard of Formula E. How the hell did I miss that. Thanks for sharing!

ruston · Aug 20, 2016

It's on one of the freeview channels , I can't remember which one.
Most of the drivers are ex F1 grid.
It is not bad to be honest, a lot of strategy to get the best out of the car.
http://fiaformulae.com
There is a link for you.

Sparkysoldman · Aug 21, 2016

My mrs has had a leaf for 3 yrs and it's brilliant to drive and very cheap to run the problem is depreciation. Luckily as we were unsure about the technology we leased it so it's not a factor for us.

Range is about 90 miles not the 120 claimed. Charging at home on a 13amp socket takes about 8 hrs didn't bother installing a charging point

On motorway services its 20 mins to full charge and was free but now costs £6

It's used as a run around by the whole family. Son drives a x5 I drive an e320 and daughter drives a kuga all prefere the leaf for running around

Battery is showing no sign of deteriorating according to the gauge it's still taking the same charge as when new and the range doesn't appear to have dropped

It's now done 40k and the only spend was 2 front tyres this week

Acceleration is deceptively good as all the power goes straight to the road and no gear changes

All the talk about batteries makes me smile a little yes they will deteriorate with time but it's about the only thing on the car that will !!
The rest is just a big electric motor and that will run forever !!

As for the cost we've spent £89 per month for the lease with a 7 k deposit over 3 years so about 10k over 3 yrs The balloon should we decide to keep is 9k

Over that 3 yrs we've saved about 5k in fuel. Assuming 1.20 per litre and 50 mpg haven't calculated the cost to recharge but I'm guessing around 1k

So in summery we've driven a brand new car 40k miles for about 11k. Which by my calculation is a good deal

Would we have another definitely yes will we have another probably not just started caravan in again and alas it won't tow

Kamikaze · Aug 22, 2016

Sparkysoldman said:
Would we have another definitely yes will we have another probably not just started caravan in again and alas it won't tow

Go for it! We need to know how far the batteries will last towing one…lol.

Sparkysoldman · Aug 22, 2016

Doubt it would get off the drive lol

Dan · Aug 23, 2016

Sparkysoldman said:
My mrs has had a leaf for 3 yrs and it's brilliant to drive and very cheap to run the problem is depreciation. Luckily as we were unsure about the technology we leased it so it's not a factor for us.

Range is about 90 miles not the 120 claimed. Charging at home on a 13amp socket takes about 8 hrs didn't bother installing a charging point

On motorway services its 20 mins to full charge and was free but now costs £6

It's used as a run around by the whole family. Son drives a x5 I drive an e320 and daughter drives a kuga all prefere the leaf for running around

Battery is showing no sign of deteriorating according to the gauge it's still taking the same charge as when new and the range doesn't appear to have dropped

It's now done 40k and the only spend was 2 front tyres this week

Acceleration is deceptively good as all the power goes straight to the road and no gear changes

All the talk about batteries makes me smile a little yes they will deteriorate with time but it's about the only thing on the car that will !!
The rest is just a big electric motor and that will run forever !!

As for the cost we've spent £89 per month for the lease with a 7 k deposit over 3 years so about 10k over 3 yrs The balloon should we decide to keep is 9k

Over that 3 yrs we've saved about 5k in fuel. Assuming 1.20 per litre and 50 mpg haven't calculated the cost to recharge but I'm guessing around 1k

So in summery we've driven a brand new car 40k miles for about 11k. Which by my calculation is a good deal

Would we have another definitely yes will we have another probably not just started caravan in again and alas it won't tow

Had to look up the leaf never heard of one.

Sparkysoldman · Jul 2, 2017

So just thought I do a quick update

Sent the leaf back to Nissan at the end of the term as the balloon figures was higher than the retained value depreciation really is a disaster on these

That said Mrs liked the car so much ended up going for another

This one is18 months old with 10k on the clock and picked it up for an astonishing 10k from a Nissan dealer
Range is 90 miles not the claimed 120 but this one has a built in fast charger so recharges about 30 miles per hr

I worked out that after 3 yrs or 40 k even if we throw the car away it's cheaper than a Normal car to run and much more fun

I expect it to last a lot longer than that but everything after 3 years is free

Squid · Jul 3, 2017

Mercedes have the B Class Electric an acquaintance has one and loves it but he can charge it at work and he uses it as a commuter car. Was an approved used car and picked it up for about £16k

Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive - http://www.mercedes-benz.co.uk/content/unitedkingdom/mpc/mpc_unitedkingdom_website/en/home_mpc/passengercars/home/new_cars/models/b-class/w242.html

Percyprod · Nov 11, 2017

I had a Fiat once. It was shocking. Does that count?

MJPD29 · Nov 11, 2017

Refilling my diesel after 450 miles takes less than 5 minutes. 8 hours of charging after an 80 mile journey sounds horrendous. restricts you from driving anywhere which is a reasonable distance away

Percyprod · Nov 11, 2017

Electric cars ok for short journies, and light loads. Be a long time before one can replace my Disco 4 to tow horse trailer on 500 mile round trip with no charging points available. Plus of course the pollution caused by making the batteries, building new power stations to supply the exttra electrical power needed to charge them etc.